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DGNgineering
DGNgineering or formerly Dagnall Engineering and commonly shortened to DGN (and often, incorrectly, DGNeering), is a multiple championship-winning British racing team formed by Chris Dagnall and currently the most successful F1RWRS team of all time. In the team's maiden season it clinched both drivers' and constructors' titles, the former with Mark Dagnall, Chris' younger brother. For 2014, the team changed it's name to DGNgineering, with Mark successfully defending his drivers' championship to make him the first ever double world champion in the F1RWRS, whilst overall DGN successfully defended their constructors' title, becoming the second team after Prospec to achieve this feat. During 2014, DGNgineering had an official junior team in the F2RWRS, Kit-Kat Warriors which was also run by Chris Dagnall, but was closed following the end of the season. For 2015, as double defending champions, DGN's line-up is once again led by Mark Dagnall, with Belgian Ron Mignolet partnering him. Team Origins At the close of the 2012 season, the F1RWRS Commission announced sweeping changes to the series, prompting Sammy Jones to withdraw his team, Jones Racing, from the 2013 entry list. Announcing he had no interest in the revised series, Jones sold much of the team's assets to Chris Dagnall, who had driven for Jones for the previous two seasons in 2011 and 2012. It would later transpire that Jones would re-enter the F1RWRS, at the third race of 2013, though Dagnall had taken the momentum from the team which was narrowly beaten to both drivers and constructors championships in the final race of 2012. 2013 F1RWRS Season The drastic rule changes were handled masterfully by Dagnall's team, the Briton assembled a fundamentally good package for 2013 whilst other teams that had been tipped to do well struggled. Chris placed his son Mark in the lead driver's role which was somewhat of a surprise, with Mark being a relative unknown up until that point. After initially considering hiring another driver for the second seat, Chris decided to do one last season behind the wheel, before bidding farewell to the cockpit for good. The combination of father and son with the neat-looking CD-01 car was astounding. Mark led Chris home for a debut 1-2 finish in their first race, the Tasman GP, and from there they never looked back. Despite a series of unreliability issues, of which Chris bore the brunt, retiring from ten races in a row, both drivers were able to take multiple wins, with seven in total for Mark. They waltzed their way to both championships, comfortably wrapping them up long before the season's end. The opposition were in disarray, with no one team able to mount a challenge against the dominance of the Dagnalls. The Gillet team were the closest by the end of the year, and Dagnall Engineering had outscored them 106 points to 57, almost double. The dominance was unprecedented in the F1RWRS and led some paddock members to believe that Dagnall and his team were somehow bending the rules to achieve their success. In reality, the car and drivers were entirely legal, Chris Dagnall had just demonstrated that in a series still very much in its infancy, just how under-prepared and dis-organised much of the field was. His team's structure, planning and organisation created the mould for other teams as they tried to follow his example, setting a trend for future F1RWRS seasons, and beginning a transformation that would see the series take on an ever more professional image. 2014 F1RWRS Season On the back of such a successful year, Chris Dagnall made a number of changes to his team for 2014. The team principal retired from racing altogether, allowing him to focus far more of his efforts on managing the team, and in his stead handed the young Nathan Scott a drive for the team alongside Mark who as reigning world champion, was retained. The Martini sponsorship deal elapsed, and in its place was an exclusive deal with Japanese electronic musical instrument company Korg and a bold new livery. The new CD-02 car maintained some continuity however, keeping the same powerful Zakspeed engine from 2013. Chris also altered the team's name slightly in a ploy to make the team more market-friendly and appealing and so Dagnall Engineering was shortened to DGNgineering. Italian Fredo Mestolio was signed on as test driver and from the French GP onwards dovetailed this with a drive at the ARC team. Pre-season testing revealed a trend that would become very familiar throughout the year. The MRT cars were well clear on pace from the rest of the field, on occasion up to two seconds faster than the next best cars, which were usually those from DGNgineering. It was clear that the advantage Dagnall and his team had in 2013 had disappeared for 2014. The season itself however evolved into a fascinating battle between the two top teams. MRT had the clear pace in qualifying and the race, but unreliability proved to be a major problem for them, allowing Mark Dagnall to capitalise on MRT's misfortunes. Nathan Scott was fired by Chris Dagnall after only four races for consistently underperforming, and was replaced by Ben Fleet, a pay driver, but very talented in his own right. Fleet's signing would prove to be crucial to DGNgineering's championship challenge, as his money allowed a major package of improvements to the car to be implemented mid-way through the year. This ironed out some of the reliability problems that had dogged the team and made challenging MRT far easier. The Australian team lost their way when Nathanael Spencer, the team's leading driver suffered a decline in form, lost his focus, and was ultimately fired. Phillippe Nicolas picked up the pieces for MRT and kept their hopes of the championship alive until the penultimate race of the year, the Chinese GP, where Mark Dagnall was able to seal a second consecutive drivers' title in emphatic style with his fourth race win of the year. The constructors title however went down to the wire, and the final race of the year at Japan. Nathan Scott's poor performances early in the season had cost DGNgineering, though they held an advantage of six points going into the race as they attempted to match Prospec in achieving two consecutive constructors' titles. This they duly did, with a superb 1-2 result, Mark winning with junior driver and debutant Hansuke Shioya behind in second. DGN were now officially the most successful F1RWRS team ever. 2015 F1RWRS Season Following two near faultless seasons for the team, the Dagnalls expected more of the same for 2015. With a ban on turbo engines coming into force however, the power advantage that had seen the MRT, DGN and to a lesser extent Sunshine cars dominate would be no more. The deal with Zakspeed was over, with the German manufacturer refusing to design a new normally-aspirated unit, so in its stead, DGN signed a deal with Chrysler for a supply of expensive, powerful, but somewhat unreliable engines for 2015. In testing it became clear that the DGNgineering package was inferior to other teams, MRT had managed to maintain their good form, whilst other teams such as Aeroracing, Jones and Kamaha had come to the fore. To partner Mark Dagnall who remained at his father's team for a third consecutive year, Belgian Ron Mignolet was hired with Shioya spending another year in the F2RWRS, and Ben Fleet being hired by the Scuderia Alitalia team. Mignolet had impressed for the Acuri team in 2014, and was expected to go on to big things in the series in future. This would be the team's last season in F1RWRS; the team would later leave F1RWRS for Formula One by purchasing and renaming the McLaren team. Complete F1RWRS Results * * Season in progress * † Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance. Complete Formula One Results Category:Teams Category:F1RWRS Teams Category:Formula One Teams